Your Right to Know

Columbus Mayor Michael B. Coleman has endorsed two groups seeking freedom to marry for same-sex
couples, several weeks after saying he was reviewing his position on the issue.

This week, he signed on with a national group, Mayors for Freedom to Marry, and a statewide one,
Ohio Leaders for Freedom to Marry.

Coleman met with local gay community leaders, including former City Councilwoman Mary Jo Hudson
and Equality Ohio President Ed Mullen, at City Hall on Wednesday. At the end of the meeting,
Coleman told them he was on board, said Dan Williamson, the mayor’s spokesman.

“One of the things that pushed the mayor over the top on this issue was a meeting he had with a
city employee, a veteran who came back,” Williamson said. “He told the mayor he’s now openly gay,
but he had to hide things from his fellow soldiers” while the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell”
policy was in effect. “He said he was overseas fighting for everybody’s rights but his own.”

Last month, Coleman’s name briefly appeared on a list of Mayors for Freedom to Marry. But at the
time, Coleman said he had not changed his position from the one he took in 2004 when he ran for
governor: that he supported civil unions with rights similar to marriage for gay couples. The group
took his name off the list. Since then, local gay-rights activists have been calling for the mayor
to change his position.

Williamson said Coleman didn’t sign on to the mayor’s group during the National Conference of
Mayors, because he wanted to talk to local people before deciding.